The 'initial focus will be in-depth reporting on the classified documents previously provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden,' Omidyar announced

by

Andrea Germanos, staff writer

A screengrab from First Look Media's video explaining the new outlet.

First Look Media, the new journalism venture backed by billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and led by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill, will launch the first of its online magazines early next week, with the inaugural edition to focus on NSA documents.

Omidyar and Eric Bates, former executive editor of Rolling Stone who also forms part of the new venture, wrote on Thursday that the new site's

First Look is still in the midst of building our team and refining our larger editorial vision and strategy. Later this year, we will launch more digital magazines, along with a flagship site. But in recent weeks, there has been a dramatic escalation in the threats against journalists reporting on the NSA story. First Look will uphold the rights of journalists everywhere to report on the sensitive and often controversial information that they learn from sources. We are launching the new site as a public service, committed to reporting on one of the most pressing issues of our time in a transparent and responsible manner.

Further

Surrounded by a massive police presence, the country's top law enforcement official told a group of carefully screened students at Georgetown's Law School that, "In this great land, the government does not tell you what to think or what to say." In his speech, only announced the day before, Sessions went on to denounce uppity knee-taking football players and defend his boss' call, hours before, for them to be fired. We may need to upgrade the ole Irony Alert buzzer. It can't keep up.